Rural Health Care, Access to

Inequities in reimbursements to "rural" hospitals do not reflect the economic characteristics of the community, and the low payments afforded rural hospitals are causing increasing hardships which lead to the closing of such institutions. Therefore, the American Academy of Family Physicians supports the position that inequities of payments to rural hospitals should be abolished, and the AAFP will make reasonable efforts to ensure that these inequities be discontinued to eliminate these disparities to access to quality care for all populations. (1987) (2005)